Chapter 1712: Living beings
The blade gleam was snow white.
The white gleam shined brightly, as it followed the wind, drawing several blooming flowers of blood as it moved.
Numerous screams resounded.
The people who had charged forward slowly fell all over the ground turning into warm dead bodies.
Gu Qing Shan’s expression remained unchanged.
Although he couldn’t use swords, his fighting spirit, his killing experience, and his improvisation in battle were still all there.
Throughout his entire life, he had been through numerous dangerous situations and had gotten used to fighting insurmountable enemies.
And currently, this wasn’t even considered a dangerous situation.
He was simply swinging.
And swinging.
And swinging.
And swinging.
And swinging!
The wave of enemies couldn’t even endure for three breaths’ worth of time before they all fell on the ground.
Kih!
An arrow drew a streak across the sky like a blurred image, aiming for Gu Qing Shan at an extremely sly angle, but he still managed to deflect it with his blade just in time.
“Quite the nice shot”
Gu Qing Shan praised and looked into the distance.
The County Magistrate was standing a few hundred meters away from him with his bow raised and angrily said: “You killed so many people so openly, the Samsara would not forgive you”
Gu Qing Shan ignored him and simply stood still as if fallen into thought.
Various images appeared in his mind.
As he fought, memories continued to resurface in his mind.
Unfortunately, a little bit is still missing…
He moved his gaze around himself.
There was still one person left alive.
Officer Liu.
This person is the County Magistrate’s close aide who had closely followed me from beginning to end in search of an opening.
Gu Qing Shan wielded his blade and approached Officer Liu.
“Brother Gu, don’t, please don’t kill me, I beg you!”
Officer Liu was now missing a leg, loudly begging for his life while crawling away on the ground.
Gu Qing Shan sighed and said: “Brother Liu, do you remember how I invited you for a meal?”
Officer Liu nodded: “I remember! I still remember! Your cooking skills were indeed impressive”
“That’s right, the relationship between us can be considered to be decent” Gu Qing Shan said.
“We do, please spare me brother, this brother begs you” Officer Liu said.
Gu Qing Shan nodded and said: “Don’t worry”
A blade gleam flashed.
His head went flying high into the sky and landed several meters away.
Gu Qing Shan brandished the blade to fling off the blood on it, then reversed his grip on the blade and stood still.
…Not enough.
I’m still a little bit away from completely recovering my memories.
Tsk!
Sneaking through is such an annoying thing.
Gu Qing Shan felt a bit agitated as he turned towards the County Magistrate.
It should be just enough for me to recover all of my memories after I kill this guy, right?
With that in mind, Gu Qing Shan wielded his blade correctly again and slowly approached the County Magistrate.
The County Magistrate’s expression became panicked as he continuously shot arrows towards Gu Qing Shan.
“You devil, you didn’t even spare old Liu!” the County Magistrate shouted.
Gu Qing Shan casually flung his arrows away and answered indifferently: “A meal is a meal, a kill is a kill, it’s not right to miss the big picture for such a small detail”
The County Magistrate’s expression changed several times in short succession.
He didn’t think he would run into such a ferocious fellow.
He suddenly stopped shooting and said in a solemn tone: “Let me be frank, you’re actually a Chosen Saint as well, aren’t you?”
“You’re right” Gu Qing Shan didn’t deny it.
The County Magistrate continued: “Now that the Samsara has been reset, it requires us Chosen Saints to stimulate its development until the final clash once again. This entire process will actually require the cooperation between many Chosen Saints”
“That isn’t incorrect either” Gu Qing Shan lowered his blade and agreed.
The County Magistrate continued: “Fellow Dao seeker Gu, you and I are both Chosen Saints, although we’ve both lost our powers, we would eventually regain it, don’t you think?”
“Indeed, I can faintly sense that this was indeed the case” Gu Qing Shan agreed again.
The County Magistrate took a deep breath and sincerely said: “Fellow Dao seeker Gu, both you and I are Chosen Saints, those who stand above and represent the future of the Samsara, why should we fight to the death here for the sake of these ant-like living beings?”
“Ant-like… living beings…” Gu Qing Shan chewed on these words and slowly appeared nostalgic.
He suddenly said: “In the past when my Shifu was renowned throughout the entire world, there were always those willing to kneel in front of her to request favors whenever she went out, but she had always made sure to step aside to not accept their kneeling, do you know why that is?”
The County Magistrate asked: “Why?”
Gu Qing Shan replied: “Living beings are equal”
The County Magistrate was stunned.
Gu Qing Shan continued: “Even if you’re the Heavenly King’s father, you’re still only a living being. You’ve merely obtained your position through your accumulation of karma. What right do you have to keep the seals for yourself and force innocent people to drift aimlessly, face countless calamities, and cry tears of sorrow from loss?”
The County Magistrate felt some sort of omen and couldn’t help but mock: “You speak pretty words, but do you dare say you’ve killed fewer people than I?”
Gu Qing Shan sincerely answered: “This humble one has naught but one obsession: to bring justice to places of unjust. For that reason, I have certainly killed more than anyone else, that much I am ashamed for”
He drew his blade once again, manifesting an almost solid mass of killing intent.
Seeing that, the County Magistrate no longer hesitated and took out something from his chest, immediately crushing it.
Jiu~~~~ bang!
A flare flew far into the sky and exploded in a colorful burst.
“Gu Qing Shan, I’ve just called for reinforcement, and the upper brass will soon send experts to deal with you, you’re dead!” the County Magistrate shouted.
Gu Qing Shan looked up at the fireworks and muttered: “So he was backed into a corner…”
Once someone from the upper brass arrived, they would only need to ask around a bit to learn about how the officials here have been keeping the seals for themselves.
Since the County Magistrate has asked for reinforcement, this meant that he really has no other choice, as well as the fact that he was confident that his reinforcements would arrive very quickly.
They might be even faster than I can imagine!
I can’t keep stalling, the County Magistrate must be killed right now!
Gu Qing Shan advanced even faster towards the County Magistrate.
The County Magistrate continued shooting arrow after arrow while retreating backwards.
Gu Qing Shan advanced while dodging and knocking the arrows away.
The distance between them was getting shorter.
The County Magistrate suddenly blew a loud whistle.
A horse neigh echoed across the entire area.
From a corner of the street, a healthy horse charged out of nowhere and galloped past the County Magistrate.
“Ahaha, Gu Qing Shan, we will meet again!”
The County Magistrate laughed as he jumped onto the horse.
Not good.
Gu Qing Shan’s heart became heavy.
Since everyone hasn’t regained their strength, it’s still possible for me to give chase in a short period of time through overexerting my physical strength, but my endurance couldn’t possibly compare to a horse.
“Trying to flee?”
Gu Qing Shan shouted and immediately exerted strength on his legs to rapidly catch up to the horse.
The County Magistrate also understood what people like them were capable of, so before he even settled himself on the horseback, he drew another arrow and shot.
Shu!
This arrow was short straight towards Gu Qing Shan’s chest, perfectly taking advantage of the situation.
If Gu Qing Shan doesn’t dodge, he would be struck by the arrow.
But if he avoided it or tried to parry it with his blade, he would slow down and wouldn’t be able to catch up to the horse.
In that instant, Gu Qing Shan suddenly saw a vision in his mind.
It was one of his memories.
A memory of a girl.
Standing in the middle of an empty field, she wielded her blade and recited: “The blade lives and dies for Dao, moving only forward to become unbeatable!”
The vision went as rapidly as it came.
Gu Qing Shan didn’t hesitate at all to rush forward at the horse.
He put up one arm in front of his chest, which had now been pierced by the arrow, while he raised the blade high into the air with his other arm.
Slash!!!
The cold white gleam flashed, carrying with it a bloody splash of blood.
The County Magistrate was cut in half by the blade, his bloody body fell off his horse.
An unnatural sight occurred right at this moment.
The scenery around them suddenly changed as a dark mountain manifested in the darkness covered by faint yellow fog, followed by the Forgetting River, the Lethe bridge, and the Gates of Hell.
A soul was sucked into the vision, begrudgingly glaring at Gu Qing Shan with the unwillingness to accept.
“You forced me to fall into Huang Quan and ruin my Saint Selection, this won’t end here!”
The soul howled ferociously.
In an instant, the entire vision faded away and the scenery of Huang Quan was nowhere to be seen.
Gu Qing Shan noticed that he was now sitting on the horseback.
And the horse was rapidly galloping forward.
Suddenly, he felt a persisting sharp pain.
“AAAARGH!”
Gu Qing Shan clutched his head and tried to remain as stably on the horse back as possible and not fall down.
Countless chaotic images flashed through his mind, finally piecing together to form a complete uninterrupted memory.
The pain was washed away like the tides.
A line of bloody red text appeared on the void of space:
[Congratulations, you’ve fully regained your memories]
Gu Qing Shan swiftly skimmed through that and wiped the sweat from his forehead.
I finally remember everything.
He sighed, sheathed his sword, and took hold of the reins.
“Yah!”
The horse instantly began galloping even faster, heading outside the county city and disappearing into a barren field.